In Bihar, man beaten up for honking to move cattle off road

THE DRIVER of a pick-up van suffered serious injury on his left eye after he was beaten up for scaring a group of cattle by honking in a bid to move them off the middle of the road. The incident took place on National Highway107, which connects Saharsa and Maheshkhoot in Bihar.

The victim, Manish Mandal, 30, a resident of Bhagalpur, is recuperating at Bhagalpur Sadar Hospital, the police said. While initial reports said Mandal may have lost his sight, doctors on Saturday said the injury may not be that deep.

The police said the incident took place on Thursday evening when Mandal was returning from Sonbarsa Raj in Saharsa. At Maina village, a local resident, identified as Ram Dular Yadav, was crossing the highway with his cattle. As Mandal honked repeatedly to clear the road, the cattle began running all over.

Agitated, Yadav reportedly gathered fellow villagers, who beat up Mandal.

Sonbarsa police station’s incharge Mohammed Izhar Alam said Mandal was injured on the eye with a wooden stick. “Today we lodged an FIR against Ram Dular Yadav,” Alam said.

Sonbarsa PHC head Dr Kumar Vivekanand said, “He (Mandal) was bleeding from his left eye... We referred him to Saharsa... Prima facie, it did not look an injury with any pointed object. He complained of hazy vision.”